In October 2007 he was sentenced to eighteen months in jail for manslaughter, after pleading guilty. Now, he is part of Bainimarama's inner-cabal - despite beating John Whippy to death at another family wedding

Justice Gerald Winter: "On Saturday the 30th of December, 2006 Mr.Samuel Whippy married Ms. Ateca Bainimarama at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Suva. The wedding reception was held at the Royal Suva Yacht Club.John Whippy a relative of the groom attended the reception. Francis Bulewa Kean , Commander of the Fiji Naval Forces and uncle to the bride joined the celebration.During the course of the evening several fights broke out between guests. The deceased was involved in some of those fights. He was drunk. At about 2.00am John Whippy left the Yacht Club with Peter and Samuel Whippy. They talked. The groom bade them farewell. Peter went to get a taxi to take both him and John home. When the taxi pulled up Peter sat in the back seat and he told John Whippy to get into the car. As John Whippy was assisted to the taxi he was in an ugly drunken mood. I accept he used vulgar language that provoked Mr. Kean into firmly telling him to mind his language and go home. In his drunkenness the deceased ignored this direction and kept up his belligerent tirade. Francis Kean then left the Suva Yacht Club and ran towards Mr. John Whippy yelling in Fijian, "Stop that taxi." The accused then came up to John Whippy and punched him three times in the face. John Whippy first hit his head against the taxi light then fell heavily to the ground on his back. While he was lying on the ground Francis Kean kicked him on the chest. The accused was dragged away by an unidentified woman but returned to kick John Whippy’s head. Asaeli Duvusole intervened and grabbed the accused warning him to do no more harm.John Whippy lay unmoving by the side of the taxi. A Corporal of the Fiji Military Forces checked his pulse he could find none. John Whippy was lifted into the taxi and quickly taken to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital.He was pronounced dead at 2.20am on 31st December 2006.The Doctor attributed the cause of death to the pressure of bleeding inside John’s skull fatally damaging his brain. The Doctor found that blunt impacts to the head caused this. Dr. Prasad is of the opinion that despite any earlier assault on the deceased the subsequent assault by the accused would have hastened Mr. Whippy’s death.Mr Kean, John Whippy’s life was precious and its value should not be underestimated. There must be exceptional circumstances before the court can suspend a term of imprisonment. I have searched for those circumstances in your case but can find none. An immediate prison sentence must be imposed.You are sentenced to eighteen (18) months in jail."

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